From 15 to 21 September a Bird Festival took place in Batumi (Georgia), where Estonia was reperesented by a birding expert Tarvo Valker. Tarvo stood up with two presentations: „Spithami - a major flyway for the arctic waterfowls“ and „Nature conservation in Estonia“.
It was already fourth time of this birdwatching event to take place. Batumi is located at the Black Sea coast, which is a major bottleneck for several million birds on their journey from breeding grounds to wintering areas. The aim of this event was to promote this birding area for wider public and encourage more birders to visit that unique hotspot.
Besides Estonia experts from Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaidjan were invited. Several field trips were made together with local stakeholders - including visiting famous Batumi raptor watching point, opening new bird tower at Mtirala National Park and visiting several other nature conservation areas. In the evening the conference was held where experts from abroad shared their excperience in birdwatching and nature conservation work.
It was corporately confirmed by the participants, that Batumi has a huge potential in birdwatching and ecotourism. The main problems are lack of local birders and also massive hunting, including on many endangered bird species. Certainly Batumi Bird Fest will take place also in next autumn.
See also a gallery of Batumi Raptor Count Autumn 2014
Migrating Black Storks / Tarvo Valker
There are still many falconers in Georgia / Tarvo Valker
Over one million raptors pass through Batumi every autumn / Tarvo Valker
Tarvo Valker is on the left side
Tarvo Valker is on the left side
Tarvo Valker is on the left side
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